Miracles of the Gods: A New Look at the Supernatural (66 page)

etc. have something uncommonly exciting and alluring about them. Sacred secrets are a brilliant invention. The 'mysteries' I am going to mention here can be tracked down.

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This story could have been invented by Agatha Christie or Georges Simenon. The village of Heroldsbach is situated in Mittelfranken, Bavaria.

9th October, 1949.

The children Marie Hellman, aged 10, Kuni Schleicher, aged 11, Crete Gugel, aged 11, and Erika Muller, aged 11, were collecting autumn leaves of different trees for their school botany lesson. On their way home they saw above the treetops radiant handwriting, 'like the sun shining through a green beer bottle', forming the three letters IHS. The writing disappeared. Then 'a white lady who looked like a white nun' appeared, floating above the birch wood. [15] The vision moved slowly hither and thither.

The sensible children did not lose their heads. To make sure they were not dreaming, they began to count, told each other about noises they could hear and ran to the pond on which seven ducks were swimming as usual. No, they were not dreaming. The figure of the lady was still floating 'up there' on the hill, higher and higher, until she vanished into the blue sky. The vision lasted for a quarter of an hour.

At home no one believed a word of the children's story. Their mothers set out to put an end to the phantom by going to see for themselves. On the hill they observed how the children - 'suddenly' of course - looked fixedly at the wood. They could perceive the vision again. The mothers could only confirm that the children were strangely and deeply moved in a way that communicated itself to them, too. The records, prepared separately, gave identical descriptions of the phenomenon by the children.

10th October.

Kuni Schleicher went to the hill with a girl friend. They were followed by four boys who were teasing them: Andreas Buttner, aged 13, Michael Lindenberger, Adolf Messbacher and Heinz Muscha, all aged 12. Then all the children saw the lady only thirty feet away above the treetops and moving slowly earthwards. 12th October.

The little girls saw only a 'white gleam', whereas Michael Lindenberger and his brother Martin claimed to have seen 'a white lady'. 13th October.

Antonia Saam (the circle of visionary children was growing) asked the vision: 'What is your wish?' All the children heard the answer: 'The people must pray hard!'

The children asked the village priest Gailer to accompany them to the hill. The priest refused and informed his religious superiors, the episcopal administration at Bamberg. 16th October.